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All-new Canyon Ultimate CF Evo road bike runs €13,000 for sub 5kg – Plus SLX actual weights!

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2016 Canyon Ultimate CF Evo ultra lightweight road bike with actual weight under 5kg

Just last week, Canyon unveiled their all-new Ultimate CF SLX for Movistar to race in this year’s Tour de France. It introduced a new aerodynamic design to the already stiff, light and comfortable Ultimate heritage. Now, they’ve shown us their halo product, the Ultimate CF Evo.

Yes, the weight and the price are insane, but the madness is tempered with parts that they say makes the bike actually ridable on a daily basis with no compromise in performance or durability.

So, how can they do that and get a bike under 5kg?

2016 Canyon Ultimate CF Evo ultra lightweight road bike with actual weight under 5kg

The complete bike mostly as you’ll find it on showroom floors (as if one of these will ever just be sitting in your LBS) comes in at 4.85kg (10.69lb). Spec notes below explain what’s not stock here.

2016 Canyon Ultimate CF Evo ultra lightweight road bike with actual weight with pedals

With a pair of steel spindle Speedplay pedals, the weight is still just 5.06kg (11.16lb).

2016 Canyon Ultimate CF Evo ultra lightweight road bike with actual weight under 5kg

The SLX frame weighs a claimed 780g with 295g fork. The Evo frame is substantially lighter at 665g (size medium), and 270g fork with steerer cut for a medium frame.

Even with the weight savings, they wanted to keep similar stiffness and comfort to the SLX. They saved weight by using different types of carbon, which were much more expensive.

The difference is a PAN based carbon in their regular Ultimate CE bikes versus a Pitch based high modulus fiber on the Ultimate, which has about 30% more carbon in the carbon fiber. That means it’s a more hi-mod frame, but there is other modulus fibers in there, too, so the frame won’t be too brittle.

2016 Canyon Ultimate CF Evo ultra lightweight road bike with actual weight under 5kg

All of Canyon’s forks and handlebars are checked in house by computer tomographic (CT) scan to ensure it’s laid up correctly, there are no gaps or delaminations. Normally, they only do it on their forks and handlebars, but since this frame pushes the limits of light weight, it also gets the CT scan check it before it goes out the door.

2016 Canyon Ultimate CF Evo ultra lightweight road bike with actual weight under 5kg

The seatpost clamp is completely hidden and resides about 6-7 cm below the top of the seat tube. That design allows an extra 6-7 cm of seatpost, which allows more total flex and better comfort. The threaded binder insert and bolt are titanium, which saves 4-5g over the steel parts used on the SLX. Water bottle bosses remain standard with alloy bolts.

2016 Canyon Ultimate CF Evo ultra lightweight road bike with actual weight under 5kg

Goal was to make a super light bike that could also be ridden everyday, hence the use of a standard SRAM chainring and cassette with KMC DLC Black chain. But they’ll have all black RED chainrings made for them to keep the stealthy look intact. The rest of the component spec mirrors that, saving weight where they can without giving up usability. Wheels are stiff, cockpit is stiff and comfy. So, you could make it a good bit lighter if you went absolutely nuts on wheels and components but you’d lose ridability.

2016 Canyon Ultimate CF Evo ultra lightweight road bike with actual weight under 5kg

The SLX and Evo models share the same molds, but the Evo uses a special insert to allow them to form an integrated carbon fiber front derailleur mount rather than the riveted alloy one. Savings: 6g.

2016 Canyon Ultimate CF Evo ultra lightweight road bike with actual weight under 5kg

Internal cable routing helps with aerodynamics even though it can sometimes add a few grams. They made up for it with the linked Jaguar cables for braking and lighter XEX housing for the shift cables.

2016 Canyon Ultimate CF Evo ultra lightweight road bike with actual weight under 5kg

2016 Canyon Ultimate CF Evo ultra lightweight road bike with actual weight under 5kg

Other parts include:

  • 79g Tune saddle
  • 275g THM Clavicula crank arms (without chainrings or bolts)
  • Ceramic speed 60g BB that’s new and fits a Shimano pressfit 86.5 design with a 30mm axle
  • Wheels have ceramic bearings to save 6g per wheel
  • Tires are a special edition of Continental Podium TT with slightly less rubber to come in at 200g per tire, a bit less than regular versions. That does reduce their tread life by about 35%, but they say it doesn’t affect puncture resistance. The tires on this bike are the standard ones, so actual weight will be slightly less than what’s shown above.
  • Canyon handlebar is 196g (42cm) and stem is 150g (110mm)

2016 Canyon Ultimate CF Evo ultra lightweight road bike with actual weight under 5kg

Things like Canyon’s flex seatpost aren’t the lightest out there, nor is their handlebar and stem (though they’re nothing to sneeze at). But using lighter, more chi-chi parts would have reduced comfort and stiffness, so they opted for the slightly heavier bits to keep the ridability theme going.

Retail will be €13,000 and it goes on pre-sale this fall, production starts in February 2016. Look for another ultralight spec concept on this frame to be announced at Eurobike, too.

2016 Canyon Ultimate CF SLX road bike actual weight and frame details

For its part, the SLX is no slouch at 6.94kg (15.3lb) including Dura-Ace pedals, putting it just inside the UCI’s current legal minimum weight limit…though this one’s built with Zipp clinchers, so it’d be pretty easy to dip below that limit by swapping to tubulars.

2016 Canyon Ultimate CF SLX road bike actual weight and frame details

Canyon’s one piece stem and handlebar also weigh slightly more than their individual parts because of the integrated Di2 junction box mount underneath (completely hidden from view unless you’re looking from the bottom up) and bolt holes for their out-front Garmin mount. Note the sprinter’s Di2 switches poking outta the bar tape.

2016 Canyon Ultimate CF SLX road bike actual weight and frame details

The stem’s shape integrates with custom headset cap and spacers.

2016 Canyon Ultimate CF SLX road bike actual weight and frame details

Check out more on the SLX and team bikes here.

Canyon.com

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14 Comments
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dG
dG
8 years ago

that’s what i’m talking about. if you’re gonna spend the $, then spend it smartly. This bike is beautiful and most certainly indestructible – the germans know their engineering.

sf
sf
8 years ago

150 grams stem in super light build?!

Will
Will
8 years ago

Saddle looks super comfortable

Vertride
Vertride
8 years ago

So if you crack this 13K worth of bike will they give you miserable customer service and miserably long months of wait only to tell you that ” you broke it,sorry,here is our crash replacement program for 6K Euro,you want it ? No ? Well you can go eff yourself…”

trexor
trexor
8 years ago

I’d just like to say THANK YOU to Canyon for having the idea to finally come out “flagship”bike that isn’t all blacked, “stealth” or “murdered” out and/or naked carbon, as if we wouldn’t have guessed what’s behind the paint anyways.
I’ve always love their graphic design, mated well to their beautiful bikes. Chapeau…

Antoine
Antoine
8 years ago

I think that is just bike porn to make beautifull shots for website. Who would spend 13000$ for a bike on an online shop ? No test no fit not easily serviceable everywhere. With that kind of cash i think one want some real life service. I am not a specialized fanboy but they are obvioulsy better suited with concept shop and the like to sell this kind of machine.

Craig
Craig
8 years ago

@Antoine. Can you really see shops letting a potential customer take this bike down the street for a test spin? Hmm, I can’t, even if it was available in a shop. I’ve never sold a bike over $10,000 that was test ridden first, we first would check geometry against their current bike if they wished to duplicate the position, or it just went straight to the bike fitting room then to the cash register. Using a program like BikeCad, anyone can go to a professional fitter, have their bike fit checked or measured then the fitter can cross reference this to the Canyon geometry, it’s really quite easy. I can’t see any of this being a barrier to purchasing this bike, or any bike of this value that isn’t on a shop floor. Plus most boutique bike stores will have a competent enough mechanic to be able to service this bike. There doesn’t appear to be anything outrageously difficult from a servicing standpoint.

Awesome bike Canyon, but anodised inner cable end caps must go, they look so tacky on any bike.

brattercakes
brattercakes
8 years ago

Hawt.

Grammarnazi
Grammarnazi
8 years ago

All this work to save minuscule amounts of weight, and they include a 150g stem? That’s near stock weight on budget road bikes

muf
muf
8 years ago

i live near a specialized shop and they let me borrow their brand new 10k bikes for a spin.. for free even. i just give them my id.

obviously if i crash it im going to have to pay for it. havent tho, and have thus tested plenty of bikes, and in fact bought one from them. Great service, and im glad that it works.

fib
fib
8 years ago

You have to beef up your credit card limit. Dropping 13 grand on a bike you buy online, a bike that gets *shipped* to your home is… err… crazy.

Mikey
Mikey
8 years ago

Sub 5 kg is not so strange with those parts. Pretty much any high-end frame can be specced with some Lightweight/Tune/AX Lightness parts to go sub 5 kg with D-A or RED and they are still capable of everyday use. The most affordable sub 5 bikes I’ve seen are around 7-8k€. Yes it’s a nice bike, but I don’t see anything special in it.
Btw, I don’t see any problem buying online if you know what you’re doing. You can also ask the seller if you have questions. I’ve bought already 7 bikes online and all went well. If you go to the lbs you have to settle for what they have off the shelf, otherwise it’s just the shop that buys it online for you.

Peter Doyle
Peter Doyle
7 years ago

Yep the Canyon Warranty sucks.
I have no explanation for a crack in my frame; there has been no impact and I have never crashed this bike. The crack you can see has opened outwards to the point where I can push it in with my nail.
When you buy from your local bike shop you at least have someone on your side; between you and the brand. With Canyon you have nothing. They will offer crash replacement (like Trek) where you basically pay well over the odds for a full frameset (you can buy the complete bike for a couple of hundred bucks more). They will say impact damage, every time, and offer potential explanations for the unexplainable such as:
• Do you have kids
• Did you leave it unattended at a cafe (might have fallen over and someone picked it up)
• Maybe a stone flicked up
So don’t buy a Canyon if you ride on the road; have kids or enjoy a coffee.

Peter Doyle
Peter Doyle
7 years ago
Reply to  Peter Doyle

Update. I made a post here about the Canyon Warranty. I take it all back and hope to get my original post deleted.
Canyon have now offered a frame replacement. Thank you Canyon!
When you want to ride your bike but can’t ride your bike all you want is to ride your bike.
I’m not fortunate enough to have a collection of bikes in the shed so thank you Canyon for getting me off the internet and onto the road again.
For anyone that cares to know the Ultimate SLX really is a racing machine.

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